Safety jaw for ski bindings



g- 1967 H. POIGER SAFETY JAW FOR SKI BINDINGS Filed Oct.

United States Patent 3,333,858 SAFETY JAW FOR SKI BINDINGS Hans Poiger,Haar, near Munich, Germany, assignor to Heinrich Wunder, Rothschwaige,near Dachau, Germany Filed Oct. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 499,526 Claimspriority, application Germany, July 15, 1965, W 39,556 2 Claims. (Cl.280-1135) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ski binding including a safetyjaw mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis and also movablelongitudinally relative to a base to enable both lateral swinging andforward quick release movement of said jaw upon excessive lateralpressure thereon.

This invention relates to a safety jaw for ski bindings, which jaw ispivotally moved outwardly about a vertical axis under excessive lateralpressure and at the same time performs a forward movement in thelongitudinal direction of the ski.

An important object of the invention relates to a particularly simplemanufacture of said safety jaw, which ensures a satisfactory functioneven when it is soiled or iced and independently of the wear ofcomponents of the jaw assembly after long use. According to a specialfeature of the invention this is achieved in that the baseplate whichguides the pressure jaw has a rolling contact cam, which is rigidlyconnected to the baseplate and has symmetrical concave faces, the apexof which engages a cylindrical stop portion of the pivoted pressure jawmember. According to another feature of the invention the symmetrical,concave surfaces of the rolling contact cam are laterally open and notlimited by guide means so that the release of the jaw will not beinterfered with.

An embodiment of the safety jaw assembly according to the invention isshown on the drawing. FIG. 1 is a central sectional view taken in thelongitudinal direction of the safety jaw assembly and FIG. 2 is ahorizontal sectional View taken on line lI-II of FIG. 1.

A baseplate 2 is connected by screws 12 to the ski 1. A jaw member 3,which engages the boot, suitably the toe portion thereof, is pivoted tothe baseplate 2. For this purpose, a screw 4 is threaded from below intothe jaw member and has at its free end a flat head 5, which is guided ina recess 6 of the baseplate 2 and bears on the underside thereof. Arolling contact cam 7 protrudes above the baseplate 2. This cam isintegral with the baseplate 2 and has laterally symmetrical rollingcontact faces 8, 9, which are concave and converge toward the boot. Theremaining side face portion 10 is half-cylindrical. The cam 7 extendsinto a substantially oval recess 11 of the jaw member 3. This recess hasadjacent to the surface portion 10 a surface which corresponds to saidsurface portion 10. The remaining portion of the side wall of the recess11 surrounds the rolling contact faces 8, 9 with a clearance. Anelongated hole 13 is provided in the longitudinal center plane of thecam 7. The screw 4 is guided in said elongated hole for movement in thelongitudinal direction of the ski.

The converging end portions of the rolling contact faces 8, 9 form astop 14, which in the tightened position of the jaw assembly bears on acylindrical counterstop 15 which is mounted in the jaw member 3 andserves for guiding a ball detent. This detent comprises a ball 17, whichis under the pressure of a spring 16 and engages a notch 18 of thebaseplate 2 to hold like a snap lock the jaw member in its clampingposition. A screw 19 is screwed in the jaw member 3 and serves forreadjusting the initial stress of the spring 16 and consequently fordetermining the lateral pressure required to cause the jaw assembly torelease the boot.

If the pressure jaw member 3 is pivotally moved outwardly after the balldetent mechanism 16, 17, '18 has been overcome, the bolt-likecounterstop 15 of the jaw member 3 slides in the direction of arrow balong one of the rolling contact faces 8 and 9 until the screw 4threaded in the pressure jaw member 3 engages the forward end of theelongated hole 13 in the cam 7. Thus, the screwthreaded mounting pin 4,which is also connected to the pivoted jaw member 3, is moved in thelongitudinal direction of the ski in the slot 13 while the counterstopscrew 15 consisting in the illustrated embodiment of a screw slidesalong one of the concave cam surfaces 8 or 9.

After the outward pivotal movement of the jaw member to the releaseposition, the jaw member can easily be restored to its snapped-in normalposition simply by a reverse rotation of the pressure jaw member 3 intothe normal position shown in the drawing.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety jaw assembly for ski bindings, comprising a base plateattachable to a ski, a pivot extending upwardly from said base plate, apressure jaw member movable on said pivot about a vertical axis relativeto said base plate, a counter stop on said pressure jaw member, a camprotruding above said base plate and having concave guide faces whichare symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis of the jaw memberand converge toward the boot end to form a stop engagable with saidcounterstop in the clamping position of said jaw member, saidcounterstop moving in rolling contact with the guide surfaces during apivotal movement of said pressure jaw member, a snap lock for releasablyholding the pressure jaw member in the clamping position, said jawmember having in its underside a substantially oval recess which has inits portion remote from the skiing boot a surface concentricallysurrounding said pivot and which corresponds to a portion of the lateralsurface of said cam, and said guide faces being surrounded with aclearance by that portion of the surface of said recess which is nearthe skiing boot.

2. A safety jaw assembly according to claim 1, wherein said cam isprovided with an elongated hole, and said pivot comprises a bolt whichis guided in said cam hole and has at its lower end a head which bearson the underside of said base plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,079,164 2/1963 Deplace 280-11353,188,104 6/1965 Magnin 280-1135 3,224,786 12/1965 Tosalli 280-1135FOREIGN PATENTS 724,055 12/ 1965 Canada.

349,911 12/ 1960 Switzerland.

LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Examiner.

J. H. BRANNEN, Assistant Examiner.

1. A SAFETY JAW ASSEMBLY FOR SKI BINDINGS, COMPRISING A BASE PLATEATTACHABLE TO A SKI, A PIVOT EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID BASE PLATE, APRESSURE JAW MEMBER MOVABLE ON SAID PIVOT ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS RELATIVETO SAID BASE PLATE, A COUNTER STOP ON SAID PRESSURE JAW MEMBER, A CAMPROTRUDING ABOVE SAID BASE PLATE AND HAVING CONCAVE GUIDE FACES WHICHARE SYMMETRICAL WITH RESPECT TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE JAW MEMBERAND CONVERGE TOWARD THE BOOT END TO FORM A STOP ENGAGEBLE WITH SAIDCOUNTERSTOP IN THE CLAMPING POSITION OF SAID JAW MEMBER, SAIDCOUNTERSTOP MOVING IN ROLLING CONTACT WITH THE GUIDE SURFACES